Amnesty: Israel Committing Genocide    12/05 06:16

   

   CAIRO (AP) -- Amnesty International accused Israel of committing genocide in 
the Gaza Strip during its war with Hamas, saying it has sought to deliberately 
destroy Palestinians by mounting deadly attacks, demolishing vital 
infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid.

   The human rights group released a report Thursday in the Middle East that 
said such actions could not be justified by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack into 
Israel, which ignited the war, or the presence of militants in civilian areas. 
Amnesty said the United States and other allies of Israel could be complicit in 
genocide, and called on them to halt arms shipments.

   "Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international 
community: this is genocide. It must stop now," Agns Callamard, Secretary 
General of Amnesty International, said in the report.

   Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly 
rejected genocide allegations against it as an antisemitic "blood libel." It is 
challenging such allegations at the International Court of Justice, and it has 
rejected the International Criminal Court's accusations that Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister committed war crimes in Gaza.

   "The deplorable and fanatical organization Amnesty International has once 
again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies," 
Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Israel accused Hamas, which has 
vowed to annihilate Israel, of carrying out a genocidal massacre in the attack 
that triggered the war, and said it is defending itself in accordance with 
international law.

   Amnesty International Israel, a local branch of the organization that was 
not involved in the report, also disputed the allegation of genocide, in a rare 
public airing of internal dissent at the rights group.

   Amnesty says Palestinians face a 'slow, calculated death'

   Amnesty's report adds an influential voice to a growing list of players that 
have accused Israel of committing genocide -- which would put it in the company 
of some of the deadliest conflicts of the past 80 years, including Cambodia, 
Sudan and Rwanda.

   The accusations have largely come from human rights groups and allies of the 
Palestinians. But last month, Pope Francis called for an investigation to 
determine if Israeli actions amounted to genocide, and Saudi Arabia's crown 
prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who has signaled readiness to establish diplomatic 
relations with Israel, accused it of committing genocide.

   Israel says it is at war with Hamas, not the people of Gaza. And key allies, 
including the U.S. and Germany, have also pushed back against the genocide 
allegations. But Amnesty accused Israel of violating the 1951 Genocide 
Convention through acts it says are intended to bring about the physical 
destruction of Gaza's Palestinian population by exposing them to "a slow, 
calculated death."

   Amnesty said it analyzed the overall pattern of Israel's conduct in Gaza 
between Oct. 7, 2023 and early July. It noted that there is no casualty 
threshold in proving the international crime of genocide, which is defined by 
the United Nations as acts intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a 
national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

   To establish intent, Amnesty said it reviewed over 100 statements by Israeli 
government and military officials and others since the start of the war that 
"dehumanized Palestinians, called for or justified genocidal acts or other 
crimes against them."

   Israeli officials have previously said that such statements were taken out 
of context or referred to their stated goal of destroying Hamas, not 
Palestinian civilians.

   Amnesty International Israel said the report had not proved genocidal intent 
beyond a reasonable doubt. The local branch said there were nevertheless 
suspicions that Israel had committed "widespread violations of international 
law" that "may amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing."

   Amnesty International, which is headquartered in the U.K., did not 
immediately respond to a request for comment on the dissent from its Israeli 
branch.

   Israel says it goes to great lengths to protect civilians and comply with 
international law -- including ordering civilians to evacuate areas ahead of 
airstrikes and ground offensives. It also says it has facilitated the 
deliveries of large quantities of food and humanitarian supplies -- a claim 
that is disputed by the U.N. and aid organizations working inside Gaza.

   On Sunday, a former top Israeli general and defense minister accused the 
government of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, where the army has sealed off 
the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camp and 
allowed almost no humanitarian aid to enter.

   Amnesty said it found that Israel "deliberately inflicted conditions of life 
on Palestinians in Gaza intended to lead, over time, to their destruction." 
Those actions included the destruction of homes, farms, hospitals and water 
facilities; mass evacuation orders; and the restriction of humanitarian aid and 
other essential services.

   It also analyzed 15 airstrikes from the start of the war until April that 
killed at least 334 civilians, including 141 children, and wounded hundreds of 
other people. It said it found no evidence that any of the strikes were 
directed at military objectives.

   It said one of the strikes destroyed the Abdelal family home in the southern 
city of Rafah on April 20, killing three generations of Palestinians, including 
16 children, while they were sleeping. An Associated Press investigation 
identified at least 60 families in which at least 25 members had been killed.

   Amnesty has previously angered Israel by joining other major rights groups 
in accusing it of the international crime of apartheid, saying that for decades 
it has systematically denied Palestinians basic rights in the territories under 
its control. Israel has also denied those allegations.

   Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas, lack of aid on UN

   Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas 
because the militants fight in dense, residential areas and have built tunnels 
and other militant infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.

   It blames the lack of humanitarian aid on United Nations agencies, accusing 
them of not delivering hundreds of truckloads of aid that have been allowed in. 
The U.N. says it is often too dangerous to retrieve and deliver the aid. It 
blames Israel as the occupying power for the breakdown of law and order -- 
which has enabled armed groups to steal aid convoys -- while also accusing it 
of heavily restricting movement within the territory.

   The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 
7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 
hostage, including children and older adults. Some 100 captives are still held 
inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

   Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 44,500 people, 
according to Gaza health officials, whose count doesn't distinguish between 
civilians and fighters, though they say more than half the dead are women and 
children.

   The offensive is among the deadliest and most destructive since World War 
II, and has destroyed vast areas of the besieged coastal territory. It has 
displaced some 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. 
Hundreds of thousands of people have crammed into squalid tent camps with 
little in the way of food, water or toilets.

   Aid groups say the population is at risk of disease and malnutrition, 
especially as winter sets in. Experts have warned of famine in northern Gaza, 
which Israel has almost completely sealed off since launching a major military 
operation there in early October. Hamas militants have repeatedly regrouped 
there and in other areas, and the group has faced no major internal challenge 
to its rule.

   Amnesty says the US needs to press for an end to the war

   The United States, which has provided crucial military aid to Israel and 
shielded it from international criticism, has repeatedly appealed to Israel to 
facilitate more aid, with limited results.

   The Biden administration said in May that Israel's use of U.S.-provided 
weapons in Gaza at times likely violated international humanitarian law but 
that the evidence was incomplete.

   Callamard urged the United States, Germany and other countries supplying 
arms to Israel to pressure Netanyahu to end the war.